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David Mitchell

David Mitchell

On Facing the Blank Page

“The blank page is sort of a slightly irritating boss.” English David Mitchell, author of the best-selling novel ‘Cloud Atlas’, here explains why it’s okay to doodle if you’re stuck, and how pushing yourself is the ultimate way of moving your novel forward.

“If you’ve got no words, fine, just draw something.” When you’re working on a novel, it’s essential to be able to ask the right questions in order to progress, and to act – in one way or the other – rather than to wait: “You can’t just sit around on your fat arse waiting to be inspired, waiting for creativity – it’s time to get to work.”

David Mitchell (b. 1969) is an English novelist. Three of his novels have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize – ‘number9dream’ (2001), ‘Cloud Atlas’ (2004) and ‘The Bone Clocks’ (2014). ‘Cloud Atlas’ was subsequently made into a film (2012). In 2003 Mitchell was selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, and in 2007 he was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in The World. Mitchell, who in recent years has also written opera libretti, lived several years in Japan but now resides in Ireland with his wife and children.

David Mitchell was interviewed by Kasper Bech Dyg in connection to the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in August 2014.

David Mitchell

Stories Have a Number of Beginnings

Chart-topping English novelist and “word-nerd” David Mitchell, commended for the novel ‘Cloud Atlas’, here explains why he likes to experiment and strives to avoid repetition: “If my books are my children, then I want them to have distinct personalities.”

Lydia Davis

On Facing the Blank Page

“I make sure I never face a blank page.” American author Lydia Davis – recognized as one of the innovators of contemporary American fiction – here shares how she deals with ‘the blank page’ by only going to it when she has something to fill it with.

Philipp Meyer

On Facing the Blank Page

“The goal always is to write.” American Philipp Meyer – author of the bestselling novel ‘The Son’ – reveals why he doesn’t believe that a ‘writer’s block’ exists, and how starting a novel is a matter of drowning out your inner critic.

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